David R. Pierce

David R. Pierce concentrates his practice on environmental law and land use, shareholder disputes and corporate transactions.

David R. Pierce is President of the Firm and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. David has been with the Firm since 1986 and a shareholder of the Firm since 1993. He concentrates his practice on environmental and land use issues, including site remediation and cost recovery, brownfields, commercial and industrial sales, purchases and leasing, zoning and development issues.

David also focuses on representing clients in shareholder disputes. David has successfully handled more than a dozen cases resulting in significant favorable settlements for his clients. In addition, David represents clients in general business activities, serving essentially as general counsel for several manufacturing businesses. As such, he provides advice on issues such as succession planning, asset and stock sales and acquisitions, and negotiates various contracts, including supply contracts, warranties, non-disclosure and non-competition agreements, buy-sell agreements, voting trusts, and stock redemption agreements among others.

David has an environmental engineering degree and several years’ work experience as an environmental engineer, background that he draws heavily upon when representing clients on environmental issues.

Projects that David has completed recently include:

Sale of a Mexican Maquiladora via the sale of stock of its U.S. parent companies for $19,000.000+.

The purchase of four coal fired power plants out of bankruptcy. David was initially retained to address environmental concerns, but soon became responsible for the overall transaction and was able to negotiate favorable concessions from the bankrupt’s estate.

Settlement of a Superfund/New Jersey Spill Act contribution claim for less than $500,000 that had an initial demand of $9,000,000. David used his engineering background to work closely with the expert in reviewing the site data and crafting a defense that was instrumental in achieving a favorable settlement.

Oversight of a complex remediation of a former industrial property with a cost in excess of $7,000,000 and issues that included the careful excavation and removal of buried gas cylinders, as well as the drafting of contracts for the remediation and related services.

On-going representation of a client in a large regional Superfund site consisting of an entire waterway system comprised of a tidal estuary, including intensive involvement in the allocation process.

Successful negotiation and crafting of an intricate business succession plan for two related families and eight business entities. This complex process took over a year to devise and reach agreement on as the shareholders had very different perspectives (some were married and others were not) and different objectives. The end result was a viable succession plan funded primarily by insurance that achieved all of their divergent objectives.

Negotiation of a settlement in excess of $3,000,00 in a shareholder oppression case between two brothers.

Litigation of a shareholder dispute involving the principal operating shareholder of a spray drying company that resulted in a settlement in excess of $2,000,000. This was a heavily contested case that included intense motion practice and contesting of virtually all issues in the case.

Filing a complaint in a shareholder case for an owner in a self-storage business that resulted in an almost immediate settlement of over $2,000,000 by the defendants in order to avoid litigation and litigation costs.

Representation of a client in a contentious shareholder dispute between two brothers that resulted in the division of the business assets (3 restaurants) between the shareholders rather than a simple buy-out of one of the two brothers.

David has served as a former chairman of the Joint Environmental Committee of the Union County Alliance, Linden Industrial Association, and Union County Chamber of Commerce. He also served as the president of the Board of Trustees of the River Valley Waldorf School. David resides in Hunterdon County and enjoys a wide variety of outdoor activities, including gardening and making maple syrup.

Education

J.D., Syracuse University College of Law, 1985 magna cum laude

B.S., Env. Eng, Syracuse University, 1979 magna cum laude

AdmissionsNew Jersey, 1985United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1986United States District Court District of New Jersey, 1985Supreme Court of the United States , 1993

We serve clients throughout New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania including: Union County including Westfield, Summit, Linden, and Cranford; Essex County including Newark and Livingston; Mercer County including Trenton; Middlesex County including Edison, Woodbridge, and New Brunswick; Monmouth County including Red Bank, Middletown, Eatontown, and Freehold; Morris County including Morristown and Parsippany-Troy Hills; and the cities of New York and Philadelphia.View More

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